The invention relates to liquid dispensing techniques and concerns a kit of pipette tip containers. The invention is useful both in the manufacture and the storage of tips and in their use.
Separate tip containers or tips are used in pipettes into which tips liquid to be dispensed is sucked. The tips can be manually attached to the pipette. However, tip racks are also used, in which the tips are vertically positioned and from which the tip is taken into the pipette by pushing the pipette end into the tip. This operation can be performed with only one hand, and no manual contact with the tips is necessary in the attachment step. For a multi-channel pipette, the tips are placed in the rack in an order corresponding to the pipette tip distribution. This also speeds up the attachment of the tips appreciably, as all the tips are inserted into the pipette with one single movement.
During manufacture, the tips can be packaged into separate bags. Such tips can be attached to the pipette by hand, or first stacked in the rack.
The manufacturer can also package the tips directly in racks. They are then easy to take into use. As drawbacks, this entails disposable packaging material in abundance and requires relatively large space during storage and transport.
Patent Application Publication WO 95/08392 discloses a refill kit used together with a tip rack and comprising nested tips in several layers supported by a perforated plate. The perforations are flexible, allowing the tips to be pressed through the plate. The refill kit is placed on the rack to be filled, and the tip layer is pressed through the perforated plate into the rack located below. In the application illustrated in FIG. 7, the uppermost layers are directly supported by the lower layers. Refill kits similar to those shown in FIG. 11 of the publication above, with additional separate support plates provided between the tip layers, have been available on the market.
A pipette tip kit as defined in claim 1 has now been invented. The remaining claims define a number of preferred embodiments of the invention.
The tip kit comprises a plurality of nested conical tips and a support surface in lateral contact with all the tips in the row of tips thus formed. The support surface may be e.g. a plane, a groove, such as a groove protected with a cover, or a second row of tips. The kit is used for storing the tips.
The kit may comprise several columns of tips, especially several columns in a row. There may especially be columns of tips with the same distribution as the channel distribution of a multi-channel pipette to be used.
In order to remove the columns of tips from the tip kit, the column may move on the support surface in the longitudinal or the transverse direction of the column.
The column of tips can also be removably attached to the support surface by means of glue, such as adhesive glue. Adhesive paper can thus be used as the support surface. The support surface may comprise strips which can be torn off strip by strip. The strips may be especially transversal to the direction of the columns of tips, and preferably so that tearing off one strip releases one or one row of tips. The surface be also be such as to be removed by rolling.
The tip kit may also be a dispenser comprising means for removing the tips from the top or the bottom of the column of tips.
In one embodiment, tips can be taken from the tip kit directly into a pipette. In a second embodiment, the tips are transferred from the tip kit into a tip rack. A separate storage tip kit can also be used, from where the tips are transferred into a dispensing tip kit and from there to a tip rack or a pipette.
The main advantage of the invention is that it requires packaging material only in a small amount, but the tips can still be inserted into the pipette without touching them with hands. The invention has the additional advantage of storage and transport packages with relatively small volume.
In one embodiment the tip kit comprises a locking means, with which the column of tips can be retained in the tip kit and detached from it when desired. The locking means can be e.g. an adhesive tape, an elastic hindrance or a movable, such as a rotating barrier.
In one embodiment, the column of tips is removably attached to a paper with glue. The tips can be removed from the paper one by one from the bottom or the top of the column. Such a tip kit can also serve as a storage package used as a dispensing tip kit together with a separate dispenser. The paper may consist of successive strips in the direction of the column of tips, the strips being readily torn off one by one to release the tips. The paper can be used together with a separate dispenser, which may comprise a means for cutting or tearing off a paper strip.
In one embodiment, the tip kit comprises a locking means allowing a tip to be released from the column by pressing the column of tips, especially downwards, against this locking means. The kit may be equipped with a separate actuator for pressing the tips to provide easier dispensing.